The Female of the Species
by kbrand5333
Summary: One thing about Queen Guinevere. She doesn't mess around. One-shot.


_When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,  
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.  
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.  
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male._

_- from "The Female of the Species," Rudyard Kipling, 1911_

_xxxxx_

Gwen sees the Arthur and the knights emerge from the dark cavern, dirty, some slightly bloodied, but all alive and well. She had been on pins and needles for the last hour, waiting for them to return, hidden in the underbrush as instructed.

"Arthur!" she rushes to him, and he receives her in his arms gratefully, though there is a heaviness about him.

"Guinevere," he sighs, kissing the top of her head.

"Is… is it over?" she asks, looking up at him.

"I hope so."

"You _hope_ so?" she asks, pulling gently from his arms, confused. She looks at Merlin, who shrugs. The knights seem to be avoiding her eyes. "She's not dead?"

"Unconscious," Gwaine mutters. "On the floor of the cave."

Gwen's lips press together in a hard line. "Oh, for the love of…" she starts turning away.

"Guinevere…" Arthur starts.

She spins back. "Honestly, Arthur, again? Do you think she's going to regain consciousness and say, 'Oh dear, they knocked me out. I guess they win; I'll be a good girl now' and just leave you alone?"

Arthur opens his mouth and closes it again.

"She's going to wake up and be even more filled with hatred and vengeance."

"But—"

"I don't want to hear it. Don't give me the 'she's my sister, my only family,' or 'we thought she was dead,' or 'she surely couldn't have survived that.'" Gwen strides up to Arthur, plucks the dagger from his belt, snatches the torch from Merlin's hand, and stomps past him, towards the cave.

Vaguely they can hear her muttering, "For crying out loud, if you want anything done…"

"You'd better follow her, Arthur," Merlin recommends, his own feet already walking.

"Right," Arthur finds his voice and his feet and follows his wife back into the cave. The other knights gradually follow, curious.

"A gold sovereign says she can't do it," Percival mutters to Gwaine, his voice sounding slightly hopeful, wanting to believe that she won't be able to so something so coldhearted.

Gwaine, who long ago threw away his rose-colored glasses, mumbles back, "You're on, big man."

Gwen reaches Morgana's prone form and strides over to her. She hands the torch back to Merlin, who is standing closest. He is agitated, as alert as a small forest animal when it senses a predator nearby.

He is ready to spring into action should his services be required, secret be damned. This is Gwen, his queen and one of his best friends.

"Gwen," he says quietly, "you don't have to do this."

"Apparently I do, Merlin, since no one else seems to have the stomach for it," she snaps, glancing reproachfully at her husband and the knights. They have enough sense to keep silent as they, too, prepare for any unpleasant surprises.

Gwen pushes Morgana's shoulder with the toe of her boot, and the witch flops onto her back. The knights watch, puzzled as Gwen straddles Morgana's stomach and actually sits on her, pinning her arms down with her knees.

"Morgana," Gwen says quietly, stroking her cheek.

For a moment Arthur panics, thinking his wife has had a relapse; that she's back in the witch's control, or never left. Leon and Percival grab his arms to keep him from rushing forward.

"No, Arthur," Leon says quietly.

"Gwen?" Merlin, still closest, is brave enough to question her actions.

Gwen looks up at him, her face set. Deadly. "I want her awake. I'm not going to kill her in cold blood. And I want her to know that it is by _my_ hand that she dies."

_Okay, then._

"Morgana," Gwen's voice is sharper now, and she shakes her. Then she slaps her, and Morgana finally stirs awake.

"What?" Morgana exclaims, struggling to move. Gwen is not very heavy, but neither is Morgana, and Gwen's lifetime of servitude has rendered her surprisingly strong.

"Shut up," Gwen says, showing her the dagger now.

"You wouldn't," Morgana challenges. "You couldn't."

"No?"

Morgana starts to chant and her eyes just start to flash gold. Merlin takes a step forward, but Gwen slaps her again, breaking her concentration so that whatever spell she was conjuring vanishes.

"None of that. I only woke you so you would know that it is I who will be ending your life. I want the last face you see in this world to be mine. I want you to remember with your last thoughts that we were once friends. I want you to remember, and regret what you've done to me in the name of your own twisted sense of vengeance."

"Do it, then. I dare you," she spits. "I don't think you, dear sweet, Gwen, always so good and kind to everyone, have the guts to plunge that dagger into my heart," she taunts, struggling again. Gwen presses down with her knees and stills her.

"No? So you've forgotten, then, that in the short time I was under your control, I came closer to successfully carrying out your plan than you have in _years?_" Gwen raises an eyebrow at her. "That, my old friend, is because I know how to get things _done._"

And with that, she raises the dagger again. "This is for making me almost kill my husband, my only love, twice. For everything you have done to try and keep Arthur and me apart. For all the strife you have caused Camelot."

She swallows hard, and, positioning the blade down, clutching the hilt between her hands, she adds softly, "For killing my brother. And for taking away my will. Burn in the torment of the netherworld, witch."

Gwen plunges the dagger downward.

Morgana's cry of "No!" is cut off by the blade piercing flesh, crunching into her, straight into her heart.

"No…" Morgana's final whispered word, more of a hiss than a whisper.

Gwen slumps slightly, and she immediately feels Arthur's strong hands at her shoulders, guiding her to her feet, leading her away. Gwaine steps forward and pulls the dagger from Morgana's lifeless body, wiping the blood on her dress. He tucks it into his belt to return to Arthur later. Privately.

He walks past a wide-eyed Percival and mutters, "Keep your coin."

They exit the cave again. It is not a very large cave with just the one small entrance. Leon and Percival both have to duck to pass through.

No one says anything. Arthur has his arms around Gwen, and he sits on a nearby boulder, pulling her into his lap, her head on his shoulder.

_I have no idea what to say to her,_ he realizes. _She managed to do in five minutes what I haven't been able to do in years. Have I been that careless all this time? Or was I truly unwilling to kill Morgana, thinking that she could yet be saved?_

"Arthur," Gwen says softly, "just hold me, please. You don't need to say anything."

"You always read my mind," he whispers. "You always know just what I am thinking."

"Close up the entrance to this cave," Merlin says suddenly, loudly, surprising everyone. It almost sounds like a command. The knights look to Arthur, their faces a question.

"Do it," he says. "It will be her tomb."

They start moving rocks into place, slowly heaving them over, dragging them. It is slow work, even with Percival and his massive strength, and Merlin watches carefully.

Percival hoists a rather large stone into place, and when it connects with the others, Merlin's eyes flash and the top half of the cave opening crumbles and falls onto itself, closing the hole the rest of the way.

_We'd be here all night otherwise,_ he thinks.

"Must have jarred something," Percival comments.

"Lucky thing, too," Gwaine says, wiping his brow. "We were almost out of rocks."

The knights stand in a loose semi-circle around the king and queen, unsure of what to do now. Arthur eases Gwen off his lap, holding both her hands in his. He lifts those hands to his lips, kissing them both, then drops to his knees before her.

"Thank you, Guinevere. My love. Thank you."

The others follow suit, kneeling before their queen, who stands before them, now slightly bewildered.

"Stand up, please," she whispers. They do, and she looks up at them.

"I want no recognition for this," she continues simply, her face slightly sad. "What happened in that cave is to be entombed with Morgana."

"Yes, my lady," the knights and Merlin chorus.

"What was done was done for the love of Camelot. Nothing more. The occasion shall not be marked."

"Guinevere," Arthur starts.

"No, Arthur. No celebrations, no feasts. She will slip into anonymity, forgotten."

"She's right, Arthur," Merlin says. "Regardless of whether we celebrate her death or lament it, she will be remembered. Let it pass."

Arthur nods, and reaches his hand out to Gwen. She takes it, smiling sadly at him.

"Let's go home," Arthur says, leading the way back to the horses. "Guinevere," he says quietly, to Gwen alone, "you were a little scary back there, in the cave. Are you all right?"

"Scary?"

"I've never seen you like that. Deadly."

"I'm all right, Arthur. My heart is heavy, but it will pass."

They reach her horse, and he tilts her chin up and kisses her lips softly. "I love you, my queen, my heart."

"And I love you, my king, my life," she answers.

**This is dedicated to all the fans (like me) who cannot understand why they never go back and finish the job after they knock Morgana unconscious. Well, I know why, there'd be no show otherwise. But _still_. -k**


End file.
